Outsourced Netscape Merges Firefox, IE

AOL has unveiled a prototype of the Netscape browser that is based on Firefox but can also use IE's rendering engine.

AOL has unveiled a prototype of its revived Netscape Browser, which serves as a test bed for several new features. The new Netscape is based on Firefox, but with a twistit includes support for switching to Microsoft's IE engine.

BetaNews has also learned that Netscape's development was not done in-house by AOL, but rather outsourced to Canadian software firm Mercurial Communications.

The Netscape prototype is built upon Mozilla Firefox 0.9.3, which means it utilizes the same user interface toolkit and Gecko browser engine. The browser's theme has been redone to match Netscape's traditional green style and, as expected, customized Netscape-specific extensions have been added to the toolbar offering weather and news headlines.